All About Space - UK (2020-02)

Naked eye & binocular targets

Spring nights are perfect for exploring the

wonders to be found inLeo andCancer

Naked eye targets

STARGAZER

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Denebola(BetaLeonis)

Atmagnitude2.1,Denebolaisthesecond-

brighteststarinLeoandthe61st-brightest

starinthewholesky.Just 36 lightyears

awayfromEarth,itisveryyounginstellar

terms,just 400 millionyearsold– lessthana

tenththeageofourownSun.

TheSickle

Althoughsomestargazersthinkitlookslike

a reversequestionmarkoreventhehandle

ofa coathanger,thisstrikingasterismofsix

naked-eyestarsismorecommonlythought

ofasresemblingthesharp,curvedbladeof

a sickle.TheMoonandplanetsoftenpass

closetoitduringtheyear.

Regulus(AlphaLeonis)

Witha magnitudeof1.35,

Regulusisthebrightest

starinLeo,butisonlythe

21st-brightestinthesky. 79

lightyearsfromEarth,this

blue-whitestarliesonthe

ecliptic,soisoftenjoined

intheskybyplanetsorthe

Moon,makinga lovelysight.

Itsnamemeans‘LittleKing’.

Messier 67

You’llneeda pairofbinocularsto

seethisseventh-magnitudeopen

starcluster,whichlies2,600light

yearsawayfromEarth,morethan

a hundred-timesfurtheraway

thanM44!Itisalsooneofthe

mostancientstarclustersknown,

around 4 billionyearsold,which

makesitjustslightlyyounger

thanourownSun!

Beehivecluster(Messier44)

Thisthird-magnitudeopen

cluster– whichisalsoknown

as‘Praesepe’,theLatin

wordformanger– isbigand

brightenoughtobeseen

easilywithjustthenaked

eye,andisa strikingsight

inbinoculars.Itisonly 23

lightyearsawayfromEarth,

makingitoneoftheclosest

starclusterstous.

Sextans

Cancer

Leo

Leo

Minor

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